All posts tagged ‘Seth McMahill’

Avid players of the Pokémon video games will recognize the name Seth McMahill almost immediately. As early as 2000, Seth was developing and play testing Pokémon: Stadium 2 for Nintendo. Pokémon is still a huge success with additions of the Black and White series of games and cards.

The newest addition to the family of games is PokéPark2: Wonders Beyond. Seth McMahill was able to join us and discuss the release of the game via a video interview.

Seth’s excitement for PokéPark2: Wonders Beyond was understandable when I started playing the game. As with most other console Pokémon games, the little pocket monsters’ cuteness is infectious.

Graphics: The graphics are the same quality and style of the previous Pokémon Wii games. A point of note is the loading screens: they are adorable! My daughter and I would sit and coo over them between scenes. In other parts of the game even my husband came through the room at a couple of points noting, “How did they manage to make Pikachu’s paw prints in the sand cute?” and “Even angry Pikachu is cute!”

Play: If you receive this game and expect a typical Pokémon arena of picking your six-Pokémon-team based on weakness and strength to other types of Pokémon, you will be sorely disappointed. I would call this game a cross between a Super Mario Brothers game and Super Smash Brothers. In other words, there is a lot of, “I’m sorry, Piplup isn’t in this world, please check the next one.” Battles aren’t necessarily based on picking the best move against your opponent so much as mashing buttons and shaking your Wii-mote like a Poloroid picture. Movement and dialog are fairly easy to get through. I have found playing the game repetitive and a little boring in parts. The solution to this problem has been to let my six-year-old daughter play through to become friends with all of the Pokémon so I can play the hard parts to keep the story moving and open up new areas on the map. I have no problem letting her play this game as all of the dialog is written, so it forces her to read (above her grade level for that matter).

Story: Poképark’s inhabitents are lost to the WISH WORLD via the evil Gothita, Gothorita, and Gothitelle. Pikachu, Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig must keep the worlds from being swallowed by the Vortex. Each of the Pokémon have their own personality and special talent. Snivy and Oshawott seem to be our favorites as Oshawott is an otter (a favorite animal of mine) and Snivy is a bratty little tom-boy (her friends greet her to the party with the statement, “You’re a GIRL?!”).

Mother Approved or Dust Collector: Mother Approved. If you know of a Pokémon fan who likes the button mashing Wii games, PokéPark2: Wonders Beyond is an obvious choice. It lags a little for my taste, but this one and only flaw is remedied by letting my daughter friend all of the Pokémon for me, making this a good family game.

PokéPark2: Wonders Beyond is available in retail stores or on Amazon for $52 plus shipping.

Cupid shot his arrows at the Pokémon so they would be available for Valentine’s Day! What better geeky Valentine than these cute little pocket monsters who are all about love and loyalty. These Valentine’s are themed with the Pokémon featured in PokéPark2, the sequel to PokePark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure. Click on the image below for the full image to print.